Lesson 1

My name
NAME (part 1 questions)
• 1. Who gave you your name?
• 2.Does your name have any particular (or special) meaning?
• 3.Do you like your name?
• 4.In your country do people feel that their name is very important?
• 5.Would you like to change your name?
• 6.Is it easy to change your name in your country?
• 7.Who usually names babies in your country?
• 8.Do you have any special traditions about naming children?
• 9.What names are most common in your hometown?
Who gave you your name?
• My parents gave me my name, my father to be exact.
Zhi means knowledge, and Lei means accumulation. So I guess my
parents wanted to tell me that being knowledgeable depends on
accumulation. You see they put a lot of pressure on my shoulders with
this name.
Do you like your name?
• I quite like my name, and I wont change it for the world, because it is
unique. I don’t think that anyone else in China has the same name.
It’s part of my identity and it’s meaningful to me.
In your country do people feel that their name
is very important?
• People in my country pay great attention to their names because they
believe that suitable names will bring them good fortune. Sometimes
they will look through some Chinese classical literatures to seek the
meaningful words for their children.
What names are most common in your
hometown?
• Oh, there are many nicknames that are popular in China. For example,
Lili means that her parents hope their daughters would be beautiful;
and Kuan kuan, indicates that theirs sons would be magnanimous
when they are grown up.
Let’s try a quick speaking test now:
• Part 1:
• Q.  Are there many animals or birds where you live? [Why/Why not?]
• Q.  How often do you watch programmes or read articles about wild animals? [Why?]
• Q.  Have you ever been to a zoo or a wildlife park? [Why/Why not?]
• Q.  Would you like to have a job working with animals? [Why/Why not?]
• Part 2:
• Describe a website you use a lot that helps you a lot in your work or studies.
• You should say:
• what the website is
• how often you use the website
• what information the website gives you
• and explain how your work or studies would change if this website didn't exist.
• Part 3:
• Q.  Why do some people find the internet addictive?
• Q.  What would the world be like without the internet?
• Q.  Do you think that the way people use the internet may change in the future?
• Topic: "Animals".
• Q.  Are there many animals or birds where you live? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, we do have many animals and birds where I live mainly because my country has great
nature with many forests, trees and lakes where birds and animals can live peacefully. Besides, we
take aggressive and effective measures to ensure that animals and birds are able to maintain their
natural habitats.
• Q.  How often do you watch programmes or read articles about wild animals? [Why?]
Answer: Yes, I do watch such programmes, especially on “Animal Planet” TV channel, and read
articles about wild animals frequently. It doesn’t only allow me to appreciate the beauty and majesty of
the unique nature around us, which I have never seen before, but also helps me to remain in a more
relaxed and comfortable state of mind.
• Q.  Have you ever been to a zoo or a wildlife park? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, I have gone to visit a zoo or wildlife park several times mainly because it allowed me to
remain close to the mother nature. Besides, visiting a zoological garden or wildlife park allowed me to
see new animals which I had no knowledge about before. Without being in a zoo or wildlife park, we
can not understand many activities of our favourite animals and birds and that's why these places are
so popular among people.
• Q.  Would you like to have a job working with animals? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: As much as I like to remain close to mother nature, I wouldn’t exactly like to have a job that
involves working with animals mainly because it might put my health and life in danger, especially,
when working with “large” and “ferocious” animals. Of course, I wouldn’t mind having a job that
involves working with “birds” because they are adorable and virtually cause no harms to humans.
• Part 2 - Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card
• [The topic for your talk will be written on a card which the examiner will hand over to you. Read it carefully and then make some
brief notes.]
• Describe a website you use a lot that helps you a lot in your work or studies.
• You should say:
• what the website is
• how often you use the website
• what information the website gives you
• and explain how your work or studies would change if this website didn't exist.
• [You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You
can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

• Model Answer:
The number of websites which I genuinely like to visit from time to time in order to gather information for my study purposes is
large. But today, I would like to talk about one website that remarkably helps me a lot more than the others.

"Wikipedia" (https://en.wikipedia.org) is what I am talking about. This website provides an array of information in the forms of
articles virtually on all kinds of subjects from history to anthropology to space science and anything in between. Many visitors
come to Wikipedia to acquire knowledge while many others come to share their valuable knowledge. One of the best things
about this website is that there always are other links towards the ends of most articles for other articles of interest, relevant
external websites and pages and reference material. Besides, all articles on this website are being updated and edited
continuously by a large number of “editors” from diverse backgrounds, and therefore, information received on this website is
always extensive and reliable for the knowledge seekers.
• If this website didn’t exist, I would not be able to write many of my term papers at my university. Besides, as a business student,
I have to do a lot of case studies on different companies and their business policies, and I wouldn’t exactly be able to finish
those case studies properly without the help of this great website
• Part 3 - Detailed discussion:
• Discussion topic: "The internet"

Q.  Why do some people find the internet addictive?

Answer: Many people find the internet addictive because there are just too many interesting things going on the internet. On
the internet, people can sell and buy things, watch movies, play games, listen to music, make friends, read interesting
news/articles and many other things. Besides, the greatest thing about this internet is that people can actually do all these
things together at the same time! Now, how many things are there in this world which allow people to do so many things at
the same time! Moreover, for some people, the internet is an exit way from their reality and that's why they are always
online.
• Q.  What would the world be like without the internet?
Answer: That's an interesting question! Well, without the internet, our world would be very much like a “deaf, blind and
dumb” person who couldn’t see and listen to anything, and the world would stand “still”. Without the internet, our
communication would suffer very badly, collection of data and information would be very difficult, buying and selling things
from the comfort of home would be virtually impossible, and we would need our video and audio cassettes back again to
see movies and listen to music. Finally, we would also need to wait a few weeks (instead of just a few seconds) to send our
special family pictures to the loved ones if we didn’t have internet, and the list goes on. I personally feel that, if we never
had invented and used the internet, we would have been okay to go on. But if the internet technology is taken away from us
now, the civilisation will find it surprisingly difficult to go on and prosper.
• Q.  Do you think that the way people use the internet may change in the future?
Answer: Yes, I do think that the way people use the internet may change in the future as it would allow us to be more aware
of our world around us and behaviour because of the use of “Artificial Intelligence”. Besides, with the help of the internet,
information sharing would be so much ingrained in daily lives that we won’t even “notice” it. Then, it is also possible that we
would also be “encouraged” to wear “devices” which would help us “detect” the risk of any danger or diseases in advance. 
On a negative side, chances are that there won’t be any “privacy” in future, and the bad guys will probably have many new
tools to make our life “miserable”.  Finally, we will mostly use our voice commands to do things online and have an Artificial
Intelligence-based personal assistant to tell us the information we need to hear and learn.